Package for uniformly shaped chip snack food products

ABSTRACT

Snacked chips of uniform shape and size are nested one within another in closely fitting relationship in a form of a circular or loop array.

This is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 352,811filed Apr. 19, 1973, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,852,485, which is acontinuation-in-part of Pat. application Ser. No. 159,891 filed July 6,1971, now abandoned.

The present invention relates to food products and more particularly toa package of shaped snack products. The packaging of snack chips such aspotato chips has in the past involved placing irregularly shaped chipsinto a bag in a random unoriented manner. Such bags are made typicallyfrom one or more sheets of waxed paper or glassine. Although this typeof bag is relatively inexpensive, it provides little protection for thefragile chips during handling and shipping. Thus, it is quite common tohave a number of broken chips in the bag. Another possible package forchip type snacks of uniform shape and size involves vertically stackingthe chips one upon the other to form a straight column. The column maybe placed within a substantially rigid tubular container. The tubularcontainer may be sealed closed by securing ends thereto. It has beenfound that when such container is dropped on its bottom (i.e., one ofsuch ends) the chips nearest such end tend to break. Broken chips do notnormally meet with consumer acceptance.

Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to provide aprotective package for uniformly shaped fragile chip type snack foodproducts which will prevent breakage of such items while in shipment andduring handling. It has been found that chip breakage is reduced whenthe chips are supported on their edges. In other words, the chips aredisposed in the package with their major surfaces perpendicular to thebottom of the supporting portion of the container. The present inventioncontemplates a loop array of nested uniform chips and packaging suitablefor maintaining the chips in the loop array. The present invention inthe circular or loop array provides protection regardless of thedirection from which the package is dropped.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description in which certain preferred embodiments aredisclosed.

FIG. I is an elevational view of the package according to the presentinvention partially broken away to show the arrangement of the contentswithin the container;

FIG. II is a cross sectional view of the package shown in FIG. I takenalong the line II--II;

FIG. III is a top view of the package shown in FIG. I with the topremoved;

FIG. IV is a perspective view of one form of chip which may be containedin the present packaging;

FIG. V is a cross sectional view of the chip shown in FIG. IV takenalong the line V--V;

FIGS. VI-VIII show an embodiment of the present invention including acontainer caddy;

FIGS. IX and X show another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIGS. XI and XII show a further embodiment.

Referring now to the drawings, FIGS. I-III show a container 10 having abottom 12 of circular shape, an upstanding side wall 14 and an outwardlyextending top flange 16. The bottom 12 has a raised portion 18 andcurved portion 20. The side walls 14 and curved portion 20 are designedto substantially conform to the outside curvature and bottomconfiguration respectively of a chip-type snack food product 22 to bepackaged therein.

The outwardly extending top flange 16 is adapted to hold a cover 24 inplace across the top of the container 10. The cover 24 is snugly fitover the flange 16 by means of a downwardly extending lip 26. Thecontainer 10 and cover 24 can be constructed of any material that may beformed, such as metal, plastic, paper or combination thereof, and whichis sufficiently strong and rigid to withstand handling and shippingloads. Drawn aluminum has been used to make a container 10 while pressedboard lined with aluminum foil has been used to make a cover 24. Thecover 24 may also be secured to the flange 16 by gluing, heat sealing orother adhesive means.

It is an essential element of the present invention that the chipproducts to be packaged are thin and substantially uniform in shape andsize so they may be nested one within the other to form a loop,preferably a closed loop. Desirably, the closed loop is in the form of acircular array.

FIGS. IV and V illustrate a type of uniform chip product which can besuccessfully packaged according to the present invention. The product 28may have an upper curved major surface 30 and a lower curved majorsurface 32. The surfaces 30 and 32 are formed from single curves in FIG.IV. Alternatively, the products may have upper and lower major surfacescurved in each of two orthogonal planes. Although many shaped variationswithin this framework are possible, it is desirable in the marketing ofpotato chips or similar products to use the general shape in which suchproducts are presently marketed since that is a form with whichcustomers are familiar.

Another embodiment is disclosed in FIGS. VI-VIII, the package 10a mayinclude a chip container 11a and a container caddy 12a. The container11a may include a lower member 13a, an upper member 14a and a lockingdevice 16a. The terms "upper," "lower" and the like when used indescribing the present invention will be in reference to the package orcontainer as positioned in FIG. VII. The terms "radially outer" and"radially inner" when used in describing the present invention will bein reference to the package or container as shown in FIGS. VI and VIII.The portions 13a and 14a may be formed from any suitable material whichmay be shaped and will not adversely affect the edible contents (e.g.does not result in toxicity). The material should not result in a tasteor an odor transfer to the chips. Preferably the material providesvisability of the contents and desirably provides an oxygen and moisturebarrier. The portions 13a and 14a, for example, may be vacuum formedfrom polyvinyl chloride film. Alternatively, one member such as 14a maybe of a nontransparent material such as aluminum or high densitypolyethylene. The other member 13a may be a transparent material such aspolyvinyl chloride. The member 13a has a channel 17a which conformssubstantially to the shape of the lower portion of the nested chips 18a,for example, U-shaped. The channel 17a is defined by a radially innerwall and a radially outer wall. It is desirable that the chips fitsnugly into the channel 17a. Member 13a may include a rib 19a forpurposes of strengthening the container 11a. The rib 19a permitsdistribution of support of the chips along the lower side edges of thechips rather than principally on the lower tip of the chips. Member 13ahas a center flange or web 23a and an outwardly extending flange 24a forpurposes hereinafter described. Member 14a may be constructed somewhatsimilar to member 13a and includes a channel 27a which is shapedsubstantially like the upper portion of the nested chips 18a, such asU-shaped. In other words, a member 14a has a radially inner wall and aradially outer wall. It is desirable that the chips fit snugly intochannel 27a. Member 14a may include a rib 29a for purposes ofstrengthening the member 14a. The member 14a has a center flange or web33a and an outwardly extending flange 34a. The members 13a and 14a maybe secured or locked together in any of a variety of ways. The simplestmethod is to secure such portions together by applying a strip of tapeto over-lie the edges of flanges 24a and 34a. The tape may be applied byhand. Alternatively, various locking devices may be built into theportions 13a and 14a.

The container 11a shown in FIGS. VI-VII further includes a snap lockring 16a for holding the members 13a and 14a together when the containeris closed. The members 13a and 14a may be held together by snap locks56a and 57a provided in the center webs 23a and 33a (as shown in FIG.VIII).

If desired, the container 11a may be mounted in a container caddy 12a.The caddy 12a may be constructed of paper board and has a first member25a and a second member 35a. The member 25a may include four side walls37a, 38a, 39a, and 40a. The member 25a further includes the upper wall41a, and has an opening 42a through which a portion of container 11a mayextend. The opening 42a is not so large as to permit the flanges 24a and34a to pass therethrough.

The member 35a may be constructed similar to member 25a and includesside walls such as 43a and 44a (FIG. VII). The member 35a furtherincludes a lower wall 45a. Member 35a is slightly smaller than member25a so that member 25a may slide snugly over member 35a. Member 35a mayhave a platform or spacer 46a. The container 11a thus may be heldbetween the spacer 46a and upper wall 41a. The members 25a and 35a maybe secured together by small portions of tape. The caddy 12a permitsdisplay of the container 11a in various positions, for example, thepackage 10a may be displayed in the vertical position as shown in FIG.VI or the horizontal position as shown in FIG. VII. Promotional andinstructional information may be printed on the caddy 12a.

A further embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. IX andX. Container 10b may include an upper member 11b, a lower member 13b andan interconnecting member 12b. The upper member 11b may include aninwardly extending central portion 14b for purposes hereinafterdescribed. The member 11b includes a flat radially outwardly extendingportion 16b and a snap portion 17b.

The lower member 13b may be constructed identical to upper member 11band may include a central inwardly extending portion 18b, a radiallyoutwardly extending portion 19b and a snap portion 21b. Portions 11b and13b may be suitably prepared from polyethylene or polyvinyl chloridesheet material (such as by vacuum forming). The inner connecting portion12b may comprise a short tube or sleeve member. The member 12b may beconstructed of paper board or a polyethylene material. As shown in FIG.1, the members 11b and 12b simply snap onto the sleeve member 12b. Ifdesired, either or both may be secured to sleeve member 12b with asuitable adhesive material. As shown, the container 10b does provide acircular channel 22b in which the ring of chips may be contained.

A further embodiment is shown in FIGS. XI and XII. The package 10cincludes the ring of chips 11c and a shrink wrap material 12csurrounding the ring of chips 11c. The shrink wrap 12c serves tomaintain the nested chips in desired circular or loop arrayconfiguration.

It has been found that single curved chips when stacked one upon anotherhave a small gap between the inner surface of one chip and the outersurface of the next chip. This may be true of each of the chips in astack. An impact on either end of such a stack tends to flex the chip toeliminate the small gap. Such flexing breaks the chips. If the chips areso positioned in the package that they receive the impact on the edgesof the chip the flexing is reduced or eliminated and in turn, thebreakage is reduced or eliminated. A closed circular array or a closedloop array has no beginning and no ending and consequently, eliminatesthat possibility of an impact on the end of the package. An impact on acircular array is on the edges of the chips regardless of the directionfrom which the impact is received. Moreover, chips placed in a circularor loop array tend to shingle which reduces or eliminates the small gapbetween the chips. Thus the present invention provides a circular arrayor a loop array of nested chips which is highly resistent to breakage.The present invention provides packaging which is suitable formaintaining the chips in such a loop or circular array.

Although several specific examples have been described, the presentinvention includes a wide variety of other embodiments which are withinthe scope of the following claims.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:
 1. A filled container ofuniformly shaped chip type snack food products, said filled containercomprising a plurality of nested chips of substantially uniform shapeand size, each of said chips having its major surfaces thereofpositioned in abutting relationship with major surfaces of the adjacentchips, said nested chips being in a loop array; and container meanssubstantially surrounding said loop array to maintain said nested chipsin said loop array.
 2. The container of claim 1 wherein said chips havemajor surfaces comprising a single curve.
 3. The container of claim 1wherein said loop array is a circular array.